Leadership

Heather Bender

CHIEF PEOPLE OFFICER

Heather Bender is the Chief People Officer at HealthEdge, where she leads the company’s global people strategy to support growth, innovation, and transformation in healthcare technology and services. She brings more than 25 years of human resources leadership experience in the high-tech industry, where she has helped companies scale, navigate change, and build high-performance cultures.

Before joining HealthEdge in 2022, Heather was Vice President of Talent at iRobot, where she oversaw global HR business partners, talent management, learning & development, and diversity & inclusion programs. In this role, she advanced the company’s talent and culture strategy during a time of rapid innovation and globalization in consumer robotics and smart-home technology. Earlier in her career, Heather held HR leadership roles at Sun Microsystems, Nokia, and HERE Technologies. At Sun Microsystems, she worked in a pioneering environment of enterprise computing and open-source software. At Nokia, she supported the business through major industry transitions, including the transfer of its mobile software business to Microsoft. She then helped spin off HERE Technologies, a digital mapping and location services company, where she focused on enterprise-wide talent, leadership, and culture initiatives in a software-centric setting.

Across these experiences, Heather has consistently partnered with technology leaders to align people strategy with business transformation—ensuring organizations have the right talent, leadership, and culture to thrive in competitive, innovation-driven markets. Heather earned her Bachelor’s degree from Union College and her Master’s degree in Industrial & Labor Relations from Cornell University.